Best British drama series
An Anglophile in Italy, addicted to those wonderful British series with zero budget and a million ideas.
List activity
78K views
• 5 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
- 65 titles
- CreatorSydney NewmanStarsJodie WhittakerPeter CapaldiPearl MackieThe further adventures in time and space of the alien adventurer known as the Doctor and his companions from planet Earth.Quite obvious.
In case you want to know my fave Doctors: 1. Tom Baker, 2. Eccleston, 3. Capaldi. I never appreciated the boy-band Doctors. I think Capaldi will get to number 1 if he keeps being so adorably crazy AND if Moffat gives him better scripts. - StarsGareth ThomasVeronica StrongPeter DeminScientist Adam Brake and his son Matthew arrive in the sleepy English village of Milbury to find it under the grip of weird psychic powers unleashed by the sinister village squire, Hendrick, and whose power they struggle to break.In the Seventies, this was kids' TV. The opening credits will scar you for life.
- DirectorSam MillerStarsJason FlemyngAdrian DunbarMark GatissProfessor Bernard Quatermass' manned rocket ship returns to Earth but two of the astronauts are missing and the survivor seems ill and unable to communicate.A 2-hours live TV teleplay, no SFX, all very rétro, but enough brilliant acting to really give you the chills at the end.
- DirectorCharles BeesonStarsClive OwenClaire SkinnerStuart WilsonA hard-working detective tries to disguise the fact that he's going blind, while working on a challenging murder case."This boy playing a detective who is going blind is very good, I hope he gets a career". (Me, in 1999, at the end of the first episode)
- StarsPoppy MillerRomola GaraiSandy WelchSoap-style drama series about the lives and loves of young professionals working for an internet start-up.I would pay for a copy. It's gone, but it must be so funny to watch in 2013, because it's like 300 years in the IT-Internet world and it'd probably look hideously dated...
- StarsNicholas BurnsJulian BarrattClaire KeelanAfter publishing a rant about 'idiots' - frantically hip, ignorant scenesters - Dan Ashcroft finds these same people embracing him as his idol and his nerves constantly tested by his biggest fan, moronic scene personality Nathan Barley.Charlie Brooker fixes forever in time the Shoreditch Media Producer / Creative / Musician W*nker. The specimen is now endemic all over the world, but Brooker came first and spoofed first and best.
- StarsSteve CooganSimon GreenallFelicity MontaguA failed television presenter, now presenting a programme on local desperately tries to revive his broadcasting career.Everything that embarrasses a Brit, encompassed in one despicable character (though Steve Coogan is becoming slightly Partridge-ish himself in middle age)
- StarsSanjeev BhaskarMeera SyalKulvinder GhirA British sketch-comedy that explores the integration of Indian and British cultures through a series of satires, musicals, and skits.In stitches.
- CreatorSteven MoffatStarsJames NesbittGina BellmanDenis LawsonBrilliant scientist Tom Jackman shares his body with a wicked alter ego while an ancient organization monitors their conflict. Tom uses technology to watch over his sinister half and keep his family safe, as a centuries-old plan unfolds.Early Moffat at its best: already a big show-off, but not at Who levels. It fizzes out a bit at the end, but meanwhile you've seen Nesbitt overact manically like a Jack Nicholson from next door.
- CreatorRussell T. DaviesStarsAidan GillenCraig KellyCharlie HunnamA groundbreaking gay adult drama which chronicles the lives of Stuart and Vince, as well as 15-year-old Nathan, who is in love with Stuart.Revolutionary, in 1999. Russell T Davies! And good one-liners that are still funny fifteen years later ("so you've both had babies tonight").
- StarsDavid TennantRose ByrnePeter O'TooleAfter a life spent seeking pleasure and decadence, Casanova seeks his one true love, Henriette.Light-hearted Russell T Davies skit about young Casanova. Peter O'Toole totally steals the show from a hyperactive and hideously blond David Tennant.
- CreatorRussell T. DaviesStarsJohn BarrowmanEve MylesKai OwenThe members of the Torchwood Institute, a secret organization founded by the British Crown, fight to protect the Earth from extraterrestrial and supernatural threats.Seasons 1 and 2: enjoyable little self-contained sci-fi ditties, not heavy on the brain at all, everyone is cute and it's all jolly good fun.
Season 3: CHILDREN OF EARTH: an amazing 5-parter which I personally consider one of the peaks of TV screenwriting.
Season 4 was made with the American audience in mind, so forget it ever existed. - DirectorJohn StricklandStarsTom HardyCharlie CoxKelly ReillyIn the Yorkshire Dales, a group of scientists receive radio signals from the Andromeda Galaxy. Once decoded, these give them a computer program that can design a human clone. One physicist decides it is a Trojan horse and decides to destroy the computer.Another no-budget sci-fi production with lots of atmosphere (and Tom Hardy)
- CreatorJimmy McGovernStarsMichael MaloneyChord MelodicAndrew ReadmanCreated by Jimmy McGovern, each episode of this series examines a person who is accused of a crime and what led them to end up in the Dock.Undescribably grim and miserable self-contained episodes about what drives ordinary people to end up in prison.
The quality varies according to the week's subject and cast, but the grimmest of all are the episodes starring Andy Serkis as a taxi driver cum stalker, McKenzie Crook as a terrifying Army officer (!) and Sean Bean as a heartbreaking transvestite. - CreatorsMark GatissSteven MoffatStarsBenedict CumberbatchMartin FreemanUna StubbsThe quirky spin on Conan Doyle's iconic sleuth pitches him as a "high-functioning sociopath" in modern-day London. Assisting him in his investigations: Afghanistan War vet John Watson, who's introduced to Holmes by a mutual acquaintance.WATCH. THIS. Especially Season 2. You have to really pay attention, but you'll be rewarded. Also: Lara Pulver. Also: Lars Mikkelsen.
- CreatorsMatthew GrahamAshley PharoahStarsPhilip GlenisterKeeley HawesDean AndrewsAfter being shot in 2008 while investigating DCI Sam Tyler, DI Alex Drake wakes up in 1981.Bit long for a British series, but who's complaining.
- CreatorRichard CurtisStarsRowan AtkinsonBrian BlessedElspet GrayIn the Middle Ages, Prince Edmund the Black Adder constantly schemes and endeavors to seize the crown from his father and brother.Classic.
- StarsStephen FryHugh LaurieRichard DixonBertram Wooster, a well-intentioned, wealthy layabout, has a habit of getting himself into trouble and it's up to his brilliant valet, Jeeves, to get him out.Doubling over with laughter every two minutes, while learning a lot of very useful retro English expressions.
- StarsDavid MorrisseySarah ParishThomas MorrisonSoon after local entrepreneur Ripley Holden (Morrissey) opens his arcade in his beloved home town of Blackpool, a murder investigation makes tears at the fabric of his personal and professional lives.Peculiar!
- StarsAlan DaviesCaroline QuentinStuart MilliganJonathan Creek, a magician's creative consultant with a natural ability for solving puzzles, works from his home in a converted windmill and uses his abilities to solve impossible crimes and mysterious murders.I'm not sure whether this qualifies as children TV. Very cute for all ages though.
- CreatorsMatt LucasDavid WalliamsStarsMatt LucasDavid WalliamsTom BakerMatt Lucas and David Walliams, the creators of this character-comedy sketch show, delight in all that is mad, bad, quirky and generally bonkers about the people and places of Britain.Don't have to tell you why, do I
- CreatorsRicky GervaisStephen MerchantStarsRicky GervaisMartin FreemanMackenzie CrookThe story of an office that faces closure when the company decides to downsize its branches. A documentary film crew follow staff and the manager David Brent as they continue their daily lives.You have to hand it to Gervais, he opened the floodgates to a lot of un-PC, rude, disgusting and really funny comedy. Cue Little Britain, etc.
- CreatorHoward OvermanStarsNathan Stewart-JarrettJoe GilgunIwan RheonA group of young offenders doing community service gets struck by lightning during a storm and start to develop superpowers.IMHO, Seasons 1 and 2 are the best thing ever written for TV.
- CreatorJack ThorneStarsLily LovelessTom EllisDaniel KaluuyaPaul has apocalyptic dreams, and sees spirits of the dead called The Fades. He must stop them before they destroy humanity.Adorably scary teenage-apocalypse. So good it won a BAFTA, and of course it was immediately cancelled due to "poor viewing". Oh well, maybe better this way so we won't suffer the indignities of sequels.
- StarsSteven MackintoshWarren BrownNicola WalkerThe story of three employees of a security depot who plan and execute a multi-million pound cash heist.Supercool bank heist!
